Grey stripes and white jeans. #chicandstylish #linkup

Morning dear bloggers.

Are you feeling the chill?
Yes me too, it got decidedly colder on Sunday, so hubby switched the heating on.  After being away over night and waking up to horrendous wind and rain it was much appreciated when I walked through the door, in tee shirt and sandals!  I'd been with my girls on a hen night.  We went to a spa hotel on the coast for a day of pampering and a super evening meal.  I had one hell of a luxurious facial, leaving my skin fresh and clean - It felt amazing.  I've made a pact with myself to have one every month.
After an afternoon of fun, laughs, relaxation and chatter, I made my way up to the gorgeous room to get ready.  Included in the stay was a three course meal comprising of chicken and ham hock terrine, roasted chicken supreme, tarragon mousse, potato gnocchi & charred baby courgettes with a tomato jus.  This was rounded off with a cheeky lemon posset and an extra glass of prosecco, savoured all the more because I've been dieting!  You have to treat yourself sometimes don't you?
Generally a quiet night with a couple of quizzes about the hen and a show & tell kind of game, giving the hen a gift that means something to both parties, either funny or meaningful.  I was baffled with this one, but eventually remember the time she worked as a delivery driver for a local supermarket - her boss got a call to say she was stuck in a field whilst following the sat nav.  She had to be towed out & I don't think the shopping got delivered. She never really lived that one down!! Lol.

Now the weather is so changeable Needing extra layers now that Autumn has arrived,  so let me share this cute tunic jumper with you.

Life's a Ball - Style not Age

Morning.
Thanks for stopping by, you're right on cue for the latest Style not Age challenge.
If you're not familiar with the group let me introduce you: Anna, Hilda, Emma and me - Jacqui have been together since February.  We're of mixed ages but with two things in common, our love of fashion and looking nice …. we've got a lot to share with you, so read on my friends, read on!

Each month one of us sets a challenge around a fashion piece, statement or style and we all develop our own take on it.  So far some of the subjects we've covered are a wardrobe staple - the shirt, had fun with fur, jumped for joy in our jumpsuits and gone dotty for polka dots. Hop over for a quick look at them, I promise there's some cute picks.

Style Steal - #chicandstylish #LINKUP

Hi there lovelies.  What are you up to?
I feeling rather pleased with myself at the moment.  You see I'm following a diet and so far have lost a stone!!  I'm so shocked because I've never really managed to lose any weight on a diet.  Does this sound familiar, start the diet on Monday, do really well and stick to it until Friday - then it goes downhill with takeaways, prosecco, dinner out, prosecco and a big family roast dinner with more prosecco! 😂 Then I wonder why I've not lost any weight!!!  It's so obvious - you literally 'are what you eat'.  Trouble is I LOVE MY FOOD!  Now this diet I'm following is not actually difficult, you just have to stop eating and drinking the things you aren't allowed and eat what you should - it's not brain science, lol. It's all about accepting a different mind-set.
Anyway - so far so good and I'm chuffed pink with my clothes feeling looser and looking much better! I'll keep you posted how the diet goes.

Okay back to today's Style Steal.  It should have been presented Monday, but I decided to push it back by a few days, due to not having photos ready to use - Opps! Which reminds me I've still to use my voucher for a photography course!

How pretty is this F & F mustard dress?

Morning.
Thanks for joining this over fifty blogger today - Sharing a dress with you today, and a very nice one at that!
Whilst shopping in Tesco the other day, I just had to have a browse in F & F, like you do, and found this darling little dress.  I wanted a midi in a light colour, but saw & settled on this one instead. Well I couldn't turn down the colour of the year!  Mustard is one of my favourites at the moment, so as it was covered in dainty little blue, red and white flowers I liked what I saw and bought it along with my dinner ingredients!

Take one pleated skirt - Look I #chicandstylish #LINKUP

Hi there people - how's it going?
September is in full swing with a festive feel seeping in.  Well the weather has turned and the shops have started adding Christmas cards and wrapping paper to their shelves, yes really!
By the lack of comments on Monday's blog post about my new jumper, I figured it was a big fail & as I didn't like it either I took it back, let's see how today's #ootd fares.

Guess what I bought the other day?
I bought another pleated skirt, I just couldn't resist the colour - it was calling me!  Pleated skirts are so bloody flattering for anyone, screaming sophistication and elegance for whoever wears them.
I've got a handful already, and am so glad I added to my collection - this blue number is a keeper!

I love the feel of this pleated skirt all delicate, soft and flimsy,  I always feel very ladylike when I wear them, especially when it's with nice heels and a cute top.  Although just as good with pumps and a casual jean jacket too.

Out of my Comfort Zone In a F & F Jumper.

Hi there.
How are you all?  This over fifty blogger is fine and dandy!
For some reason this jumper makes me think of Star Trek!  I think possibly it's the colour or maybe the deep V reminds me of  Mr Spock's pointy ears - lol, but it doesn't resemble any of the uniforms they wore!!
Anyhow, I saw this knitwear in Florence and Fred last week and nearly passed it by.  You see it's not something I would normally chose, but since starting blogging I've wanted to try and step out of my comfort zone.  I've grasped the art of mixing accessories on occassions, although I still like matchy matchy, like my grey, lemon and leopard print outfit, also attempting pattern mixing from time to time too.  Here's gingham and floral or check out Another way with my Bias-Cut shirt!

So back to the jumper - what do you think?  Thumbs up or thumbs down?

Bright pink with black and white. #chicandstylish #linkup

Morning - hope you're having a super week.

September for some means back to school.  I remember going back to school  - a new term, exciting chatter of what happened in the Summer holidays. Who went where on holiday, who was 'going out' with who, what everyone got up to - oh happy days.  A new school, and I mean a brand new school, my mum re-married when I was 11, so I left junior school in the July, starting a different secondary school in September not knowing anyone!  August was always filled with finding the new school uniform, a new school skirt, jumper and blouse - there wasn't a regulatory uniform just certain colours - boring blue and pale blue?  The joy of reaching 5th year when the whole year could vote for a different colour from all the rest of the school.  My year chose brown and cream - one of my favourite colour schemes then - Blimey how awful!

Imagine if I could have worn bright pink and black?  How interesting would that colour scheme be!

Looking back on August with love. X

Hello lovely readers.
September already!  How on earth did that happen so quickly - I wish I could rewind to earlier  months for more than one reason.

In August you might recall I went off the radar for a while, my reason - a very big one!  I'm sad to say I lost my much loved mother-in-law.  Although it was somewhat expected it still came as a big shock - we think our parents will be here forever don't we?
I'm so lucky to have had my MIL because she was so much more than that - she was my friend.  Since she lost her husband she spent so much time with my hubby, me and our family - something I will forever be thankful for.  She came on holidays with us, spent most Sunday's with us and came out with us both as a family & when we went out with friends.
I remember one time in particular when we took my daughters' to a gymnastics competition.  We stayed overnight in a hotel with a restaurant next door, we'd had a couple of drinks with our meal and made our way back to the room, getting into the lift for the next floor, once we had stepped out we realised we hadn't actually gone anywhere, we were still on the same floor - fits of laughter ensued and we finally found our room, having another funny story to recall every once in a while. 😊
She was lovely to me, the children and our extended family too.  Her loss will leave a huge hole in our family, and I know it will never be the same again.  I just wanted to share my lovely second mum with you - may she rest in peace. 💗

Lilla Rose Giveaway - #chicandstylish #linkup

Hi there!  How's your short week going?
I love that bank holidays mean a shorter working week - it means I have my family around me for longer.
Did you do anything exciting?  I'd love to hear what it was.
We were still working in the garden on Saturday, clearing and sorting - but the mind hasn't caught up with the fact that I'm over fifty and sets a pace for a twenty year old!  Quickly reminded on the following days by plenty of aches and pains!  Sunday had us celebrating with our best friends for their 30th wedding anniversary - a night out with drinks and a lovely meal in a fairly local hotel.  Again the mind still thinks I'm a teenager with the amount of drinks and the late night I had - resulting in a slow day on Monday.  Getting home to have nearly all the family round for a long waited and much anticipated roast dinner.  Don't get me wrong I love having BBQ's, lazy dinners or takeaways on a Sunday, but it's so nice to have a full all-bells-and-whistles family roast dinner - followed by relaxing snoozing on the sofa! …. heaven.

Item marked with * have been gifted to me, however these are 100% my own honest comments.

Talking of relaxing …

Style not Age - Wild about Animal Print.

Morning all.  How was your past week?
Nearing the end of August now, and it's definitely starting to feel like Autumn/fall is just around the corner with slightly cooler mornings and mushrooms popping up in the garden!

This month the ladies of the Style not Age collective are going wild - Wild about Animal Print!
Emma has bestowed the never-go-out-of-fashion element for our latest challenge, and rather happy I was with this task.  I think animal print is rather like Marmite - you either love it or hate it!
Having come a long way since the days of Coronation Street barmaid Bet Lynch donning leopard print "anything" - with the arrival of the more subtle prints such as zebra, giraffe & snakeskin.

As you may already know I love wearing dresses, and tend to wear them a lot.  So it's nice to find a dress that can be transformed from casual to dressy just by adding different appendages.  For this challenge I opted for heels, but fancy trying baseball pumps and a jumper for a basic relaxed feel.